Overwatch Cheaters Want to Sue Blizzard Over Bans

Blizzard waves the banhammer with the latest Overwatch update by banning players who are using cheats, but some banned players are so unhappy that they want to sue the company.

Since Overwatch launched on PC and consoles earlier this year, Blizzard hasn’t flinched when it comes to waving the banhammer at those who use cheats in its game. From naming and shaming cheaters with hilarious usernames, to deactivating accounts and stating clearly that it won’t overturn decisions and may not even listen to banned player’s appeals, there are no questions about how the company feels about those who use hacks to get ahead at its game.

Unfortunately, it seems that there are still many Overwatch players who don’t see this as a deterrent enough, with Blizzard again being forced to ban a huge wave of cheaters. This wave of the banhammer, which coincides with the release of the new Symmetra update on the Overwatch PTR, has banned many players using programs that include aimbots (which aim for the player) and can disable the recoil on weapons.

The banned players have been voicing their frustrations across social media, with Kotaku reporting that players are especially upset as they thought that the cheat programs they had been using were “undetectable” and are confused as to how Blizzard was able to pick up on them. These banned Overwatch players are so angry that according to one thread of cheat-ban-responses on the Blizzard forum, a few of those who’ve been caught are even interested in filing a lawsuit against the company.

This isn’t the first time that cheaters have responded so extremely to being caught, as following a previous Overwatch ban round that saw over 1,000 accounts deactivated, those banned accused Blizzard of “spying” on them. Some also felt that Blizzard was taking “illegal” actions in order to catch players out and figure out who to ban.

While it seems unlikely that the cheaters’ lawsuit against the company would succeed, if it does go ahead, they shouldn’t expect Blizzard to take it lying down. After all, the company hasn’t just waved the banhammer to stop cheating in Overwatch, but it has also filed a lawsuit of its own against cheat program creators. That lawsuit accused the creators of infringing on the company’s copyright.

In addition to just protecting its copyrighted creations, though, arguably Blizzard has a duty to the Overwatch playing community from preventing cheating occurring in its game. Season 3 of competitive play begins next month, for example, and in order for those players to test their skills accurately, proving that they have the ability to go pro, they will need to have access to a level playing field. A level playing field isn’t possible when everyone playing is using cheats, so there’s no chance of Blizzard backing down any time soon.